1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera in which a charging operation of a charging circuit for a strobe emission and an operation voltage supply to a functional section, other than the charging circuit, achieving characteristic operations of the camera are accomplished by use of a common power source.
2. Description of Related Art
When conducting a shooting operation by use of a camera in a room, strobe photography employing a strobe emission is adopted to attain an appropriate level of exposure.
On the other hand, when a battery driving a camera is used up and hence the battery cannot develop a sufficient voltage, a control unit of the camera may possibly achieve an abnormal operation. To cope with this disadvantage, the battery is appropriately subjected to a battery check such that when the battery voltage does not exceed a predetermined reference voltage, a shooting sequence of the camera is inhibited.
While the charging circuit for the strobe emission is under a charging operation, a voltage drop takes place in the battery. On the other hand, the control unit of the camera, particularly, a control unit provided with a central processing unit (CPU) accomplishes operations thereof only when powered with a voltage not below a predetermined voltage. If the voltage supplied to the CPU is below the predetermined voltage (less than the reference voltage set for the battery check), there exists a fear that a runaway may occur during the operations thereof. Consequently, in a camera in which the charging operation of the strobe charging circuit and the operation to supply the operating voltage to the control unit of the camera are carried out by use of a common battery unit in a shared manner, even when the battery unit develops a sufficient voltage for these operations, the runaway of the control unit may take place during the charging operation of the charging circuit for the strobe emission. Moreover, when a battery check is accomplished during the charging operation above, the shooting sequence may possibly be inhibited. In this situation, even when the battery has a satisfactory voltage, the shooting operation of the camera cannot be achieved.